Fifty Famous Stories Retold eBook

“That is true,” said the other. “There
is no woman in Rome so much like a queen as our own
dear mother.”

Soon Cor-ne’li-a, their mother, came down the
walk to speak with them. She was simply dressed
in a plain white robe. Her arms and feet were
bare, as was the custom in those days; and no rings
nor chains glit-tered about her hands and neck.
For her only crown, long braids of soft brown hair
were coiled about her head; and a tender smile lit
up her noble face as she looked into her sons’
proud eyes.

“Boys,” she said, “I have something
to tell you.”

They bowed before her, as Roman lads were taught to
do, and said, “What is it, mother?”

“You are to dine with us to-day, here in the
garden; and then our friend is going to show us that
wonderful casket of jewels of which you have heard
so much.”

The brothers looked shyly at their mother’s
friend. Was it possible that she had still other
rings besides those on her fingers? Could she
have other gems besides those which sparkled in the
chains about her neck?

When the simple out-door meal was over, a servant
brought the casket from the house. The lady opened
it. Ah, how those jewels dazzled the eyes of
the wondering boys! There were ropes of pearls,
white as milk, and smooth as satin; heaps of shining
rubies, red as the glowing coals; sap-phires as blue
as the sky that summer day; and di-a-monds that flashed
and sparkled like the sunlight.

The brothers looked long at the gems.

“Ah!” whis-pered the younger; “if
our mother could only have such beautiful things!”

At last, how-ever, the casket was closed and carried
care-ful-ly away.

“Is it true, Cor-ne-li-a, that you have no jewels?”
asked her friend. “Is it true, as I have
heard it whis-pered, that you are poor?”

“No, I am not poor,” answered Cornelia,
and as she spoke she drew her two boys to her side;
“for here are my jewels. They are worth
more than all your gems.”

I am sure that the boys never forgot their mother’s
pride and love and care; and in after years, when
they had become great men in Rome, they often thought
of this scene in the garden. And the world still
likes to hear the story of Cornelia’s jewels.

ANDROCLUS AND THE LION.

In Rome there was once a poor slave whose name was
An’dro-clus. His master was a cruel man,
and so unkind to him that at last An-dro-clus ran
away.

He hid himself in a wild wood for many days; but there
was no food to be found, and he grew so weak and sick
that he thought he should die. So one day he
crept into a cave and lay down, and soon he was fast
asleep.

After a while a great noise woke him up. A lion
had come into the cave, and was roaring loudly.
Androclus was very much afraid, for he felt sure that
the beast would kill him. Soon, however, he saw
that the lion was not angry, but that he limped as
though his foot hurt him.